Udayanga Weeratunga to be brought back from Dubai today

Friday, 14 February 2020 00:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Weeratunga faces money laundering charges over 2006 MiG aircraft purchase deal
Has absconded arrests despite Interpol red notice, arrest warrant

Sri Lanka’s onetime Amba-ssador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga, who is wanted on charges of money laundering, is expected to be brought back to Sri Lanka from Dubai today, Daily FT reliably learns.

Weeratunga has been hiding in the UAE since 2018. A case was filed in a Court there seeking his extradition to Sri Lanka, to face money laundering and misappropriation charges over his involvement in the 2006 purchase of four MiG 27 aircraft for the Sri Lanka Air Force.

A case against Weeratunga is pending in the Colombo Magistrate’s Court, and a warrant for his arrest was issued on 20 October 2016.

Interpol also issued a red notice on Weeratunga, but he has remained a fugitive from justice, failing to appear in Court despite a Court Order to do so.